New Research: Same-Sex Couples with Kids More Common Everywhere

Ready for this? Out of metro areas boasting populations of more than 1 million, the one with the highest percentage of same-sex couples raising kids is - drum roll - Salt Lake City, Utah.

The numbers come from a late-July infographic by the Williams Institute - a research think tank in California. You can go to the site to see and download all of the relevant data, which comes to you directly from the U.S. Census.

"Research consistently shows that same-sex couples raise children all across the country," said Williams Institute public policy research fellow, Angeliki Kastanis. "This analysis underscores the fact that recognition of LGBT families is a consequential policy question in every state."

Kastanis said that the numbers speak for themselves, but that doesn’t mean everyone listens - a hurdle that many Williams Institute reports face.

"I think that in all of our work, we put the numbers out there so groups and people working on the ground have statistic to back their arguments up," Kastanis told SFGN. "Now there’s just more information."

Information like the fact that some of the highest-rated metro areas in the scheme ban equal rights to the LGBT community. And here’s a kicker: Mississippi, as a state, has the highest percentage of same-sex couples raising children.

Forty gay couples in South Dakota applied to be married during the first month following a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized such unions across the country, according to data provided by the state Department of Health.